Successful in the 1950s, the Minas Gerais artist was 99 years old and living in Italy
Singer Carlos Gonzaga, aged 99, died this Friday, August 25, in a hospital in Velletri, Lazio, Italy. The death was confirmed by the artist’s official Facebook page and by the municipality of the mining town of Paraisópolis, where he was born.
Gonzaga, whose birth name was José Gonzaga Ferreira, emigrated to São Paulo in the late 1940s. At the beginning of the next decade, the singer made his first musical releases, with romantic songs, ballads, calypso, tangos, among other genres.
In 1958, the year bossa nova was created in the country, Gonzaga dominated radio with a rock version Diana, by Paul Anka, with Portuguese lyrics by Fred Jorge. He later became one of the pioneers of rock music in Brazil and the first black Brazilian to invest in the genre. At that time, rock music was beginning to attract the attention of Brazilian singers. Before Gonzaga, he recorded the singer Nora Ney round of hoursin 1955, a version for Rock around the clocksuccess of Bill Haley and his comets.
With the success of Diana, Gonzaga launched other versions, including, Only you (only you), Oh, Carol (Oh, Carol) I want to tell you (it’s not for me to say), Meu Pretend (The Great Pretender) , Just walking in the rain, Adam and Eve (Adam and Eve), It was the moonlight (Far, Far Away).
the registration of Diana it made a comeback when it was included in the soundtrack of the soap opera Estúpido Cupido, on TV Globo. Gonzaga, who also acted in film, lost prestige when a new generation of rock-related singers emerged, especially during Jovem Guarda, in the second half of the 1960s.
The Gonzaga family did not reveal the cause of death and did not say where the singer will be buried.
Source: Terra
Earl Johnson is a music writer at Gossipify, known for his in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the industry. A graduate of USC with a degree in Music, he brings years of experience and passion to his writing. He covers the latest releases and trends, always on the lookout for the next big thing in music.
